Donna Karan / Resort 2014

Search a show by:

Of the many areas in which Donna Karan can rightfully claim expertise, understanding and embracing the idea that women can be made up of contradictory layers is one of them. Identifying as a free spirit in the morning and a corporate raider by lunchtime? Karan gets that. And she can create the wardrobe to prove it.

The designer’s resort collection was a great example of this. Karan presented a series of looks—mostly black and white, with some red—that simultaneously exhibited her holistic spirit with her strong sense for urban tailoring. So layers of wispy, asymmetrically hemmed chiffon trailed out from underneath sharp blazers. Long and lean pants were topped with flowing off-the-shoulder or halter tunics. It was both street and ashram, a duality Karan brings to life better than anyone.

She said she was playing off L words: languid, liquid, lightweight, layers, and, perhaps most importantly, lighthearted. To that last one, Karan, while surely taking her work seriously, wasn’t showing clothes that took themselves too seriously. They simply reflected Karan at her best, offering streamlined, multifunctional pieces that will do the work, regardless of what role they—or whoever’s wearing them—have to play.